“Yeah, it certainly would,” Emma answered.
Paris gave them more. “If that’s the case then, he’s taking his rage out on the women to make them pay. Our killer isn’t picking a ‘naughty and nice’ because he’s conflicted, he’s picking a ‘nice’ mother and ‘naughty’ mother. When he kills the mean one, he’s harming his own mother in his mind.”
Croft had confirmation. Yep, Richard Porter was crackers.
There was the telltale sound of everyone in the back of the Denali checking their weapons. Obviously, they all knew what no one was saying.
Crazy people didn't go down easy, and it was bound to get ugly.
* * *
She was very ‘naughty’ as she laid there tempting him. Her skin was soft and silky, as her body called to him. He planned on using her to teach the very bad woman a lesson that she wouldn’t ever forget.
But for now, he would enjoy every second of the foreplay.
Patting her on the cheek, she opened her eyes in confusion. She didn't have any clue where she had been taken. She tried to speak, but the tape over her mouth prevented her from uttering a single word.
“I’ve brought you to my home. I won’t enjoy you as much as I did ‘nice’, but I’ll still have my fun.”
She stared at him with wide eyes, as she fought to get away.
“If you struggle, I’ll simply pull on your body and the chains around your throat will kill you,” he smiled as he began to get undressed.
She was horrified at what she knew was coming. The man planned on killing her. This was the lunatic who they were talking about on the news.
Her life was over.
When he had finished stripping, she kicked at him, almost catching him in the family jewels.
He laughed and shook his head. “I expect such things from ‘naughty’,” he stated, reaching down and grabbing her ankle and tugging to teach her a lesson.
The chains around her throat and radiator went taut, suffocating all the air from her lungs. When he saw her just about ready to pass out, he released her leg and air returned.
“Now, if you do that again, when I carve your name into your body, I’ll make sure you’re alive to feel every second of the pain.”
The woman’s eyes filled with tears.
“Now, let’s begin,” he said, kneeling beside her. “It seems that I’m ready for you.”
* * *
Pulling past the house, they all prepared to go in. There were earpieces and links placed on their collars.
“We’ll search around the house. There’s no search warrant, so we need probable cause to enter. If you hear anything, see anything, then we go in. Other than that, we knock on the front door.”
They all broke off to work with their own partners. In the end, they figured it was easier to maneuver if you were with someone you were at ease and familiar with.
Croft and Briggs headed to the back of the house, sneaking side by side. They continued to scan in all directions to assure that no surprises were waiting for the team. Once up on the patio, there was a clear view into the back of the house.
Nothing looked out of place.
All was calm.
“The back is clear,” Croft said, waiting to hear from the other two teams to check in before they knocked.
Archer and Brass also moved through the dark to cover the side of the house closest to the trees. They too moved effortlessly around in the inky blackness. This wasn’t their first operation together.
Tessa pointed and her partner boosted her up to look in the window. It was the kitchen, and nothing seemed out of place. They planted themselves in that location while keeping a visual on the front door.
“Side is clear,” came Paris’s hushed voice over the com.
Croft and Westmore took the side of the house closest to the garage. They cleared everything and were using hand signals to communicate. When they came to a window, Brynn boosted her partner up to peek inside. It was apparently a spare bedroom, and it was being utilized.
Emma saw the woman right away and dropped down. She motioned to her partner towards the garage. They had their reason to enter the house.
Richard Porter was in the process of killing another victim, and it was now or never.
Croft was getting nervous, by now his wife should have checked in with the rest of them. When he was just about to call out her name, her voice came over the earpiece.
“We’re entering through the garage. Suspect has another victim on the east side of the house. He’s in the process of killing her.”
His blood ran cold.
Well shit, this was it. The woman was never leaving his side again. Greyson thought back to what he told his boss. It had been a huge mistake to say his wife wasn’t cavalier. He was definitely rethinking that position at that moment. “Emma, wait for us,” he hissed over the link, still getting no response.
Damn it to hell!
They moved through the house with guns drawn and ready to access the room. They found a couple of doors and knew they needed to go through them at the same time.
Emma pointed at them, and then glanced at her partner, signaling her intent. When Brynn nodded, she held up her fingers to signify a countdown.
Brynn waited for it.
The count began, and they each focused on their own doors. They’d get one shot at this.
“Police,” they both yelled simultaneously as they kicked in the doors to try to save the woman who was at the killer’s mercy.
Emma was the winner. As she entered, the man jumped up with a knife in hand and charged towards her.
She fired off three shots, taking him down. When his body hit the floor, she rushed past him and kicked the knife out of his reach, just in case. Heading towards the victim on the mattress, she prayed that she wasn’t too late to save her. Already, her color didn't look too good, and Emma was worried it had all been in vain.
Damn it!
Croft heard the three gunshots, as he raced through the house to get to his wife.
She was going to be the absolute death of him yet.
As he entered the room, his wife was trying to help a terrified woman lying on a mattress on the floor.
Brynn stood over Porter, her gun pointed at him as she called for an ambulance.
“You or her?” he asked, checking the man’s neck.
She knew what he meant. “It was Emma who took the shots.” There was a part of her that was glad that when she went through the door, and it wasn’t her who had to face the sicko.
It would have been her first kill.
Since Emma was ignoring the dead man, she was assuming that her partner had taken lives before. This was just one more reason that Brynn wanted her bars and off the street. This all didn't sit well in her gut.
“Help me get these chains off her neck,” Emma said, as her husband began assisting her.
The woman pulled at the tape from her mouth, finally getting it off. “Oh God! Thank you! He was going to kill me,” she wailed, holding onto Emma.
“I hear the ambulance,” Briggs said, staring down at the prone man. Emma had nailed him three times, twice in the chest and one lower on his body. “You were a little low with one of those shots,” Curtis said, pointing.
All the women started laughing, knowing what she was aiming for, and it wasn’t his heart.
Briggs didn't get it.
Croft stood up, shaking his head.
“Darn,” Emma said, as she helped the woman up. “I better get back to the firing range. I was a good three inches too high.”
When she left the room, with the woman wrapped in a blanket by her side, Curtis stared at the body, finally getting what she was aiming for on the man. He cringed at the realization. “Shit.”
Outside, the paramedics took their victim and placed her in the awaiting ambulance. They all stood there, watching it pull away. They’d come close with this one, but in the end, they saved someone’s life.
That was what it was all about.
“Good job, team,” Croft stated, dropping his arm around Emma’s shoulders. “It looks like we can wrap this one up shortly and head home.”
Emma laughed. “I’m stuck here doing paperwork. I shot him, and there’s a boatload of forms that go with that.”
Brynn started laughing. “Now, I’m even happier that he was behind your door and not mine.”
“I say we let Curtis do the paperwork,” he began. “In fact, aren’t you lead detective?” he asked his wife.
She got where he was heading with it. “Oh yeah! I can make Brynn my paperwork monkey too!”
Both partners objected, fervently.
Croft dropped a kiss to the top of his wife’s head. What he really wanted to do was get his wife naked and roll around with her in their bed. In fact, there might be a spanking in her future, just for once again scaring the shit out of him.
“Uh, Director Croft, can I have tomorrow off?” Tessa asked, leaning against her partner and dropping her head to his shoulder.
“Yeah, you earned it,” Croft answered.
Paris knew where she was heading with her request. “I think I have an appointment or something like that,” he stated, winking at her. Yeah, they were going to spend all day in bed- together. “I think I have a prior engagement myself.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” Emma said, laughing. “At least tell the man you’re coming down with something and plan on staying in bed.”
Paris laughed. “Okay, I think I’m feeling a little under the weather.”
Croft gave her a look. “Don’t teach my agents to lie, Emma, or you’ll be coming down with something too.”
Once again, Briggs didn't get it. “What am I missing?” he asked, looking around.
Greyson was in a really good mood. “Go ahead, Paris. You get to do it one time, since you gave me an excellent profile and the rest of the team isn’t here yet.”
He grinned at his boss. “Score!” Paris laughed as he pulled Tessa around to face him as he planted one on her right then and there. It was deep, it was slow, and no one doubted the status of their relationship.
Briggs stared openmouthed. “I didn't know they were…”
Before he could finish, Brynn put her hand over his mouth. “I think that’s the point,” she giggled in his ear. “No one’s supposed to know.”
Emma shook her head as she watched a vehicle come screaming towards them. That was completely out of place. Since the killer was already dead, there was no need for lights and sirens.
As it came to a stop, the window rolled down, Ford was inside and looked worried.
“You and you, come with me,” he pointed at Croft and Croft. Both of them raced for the vehicle.
Greyson yelled to his partner. “Maintain the scene until the ME gets here with the lab team!” With that, he jumped in and Ford hauled ass, pulling away with gravel flying all over.
“What’s wrong?” Emma asked, buckling in as fast as possible. She was unsure what could possibly be happening that required the urgency and look on her boss’s face.
“I was leaving the office, and I heard the call. There was a break in at Commissioner Booker’s home.”
“WHAT?” they both said together.
“Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on, but I figured you’d both want in on this.”
Croft was glad he found them. It was a bit too suspicious for him. The man they believed that was on the take and helping bribe officials had a burglary? Yeah, that was way off.
As they pulled up to the house in the development, Mrs. Booker was wrapped in a blanket, being held in the arms of some other cop. She was sobbing hysterically and had blood on her clothes.
“Oh shit,” muttered Croft. It wasn’t boding well.
Out of the vehicle, they all flashed their badges as they moved towards the house to discover what waited inside. The cop at the door had a grim look on his face.
“Back room, sir,” he said to the captain, detective and, G-man.
They followed his directions and stepped over the broken lamp and damaged furniture. Once to the room that had once acted as Thomas Booker’s office, they found him lying on the floor.
Yeah, it was just about as bad as Croft had originally believed. He had one bullet hole to the head and was pretty much a mess. Then again, he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure it was the man. It appeared to be Commissioner Booker. Unfortunately, the bullet did a great deal of damage to the front and back of his skull.
“Well shit,” muttered Croft, leaning towards the police captain to whisper in his ear.
“This is all too convenient. This had to be the same person who killed Torrance Burns. It looks like they tied up more loose ends.”
Ford nodded.
Emma looked over and dropped her voice for only them to hear. “If we don’t want this to explode, you need to hand me this case. I’m going to have to take this one.”
Again, he nodded, knowing that was his only option. “I already did. I’m sorry to tell you this, but you’re on duty, Detective,” he stated. “I’ll send for Westmore. She’s on duty now too.”
Looking up at her husband, she went up on her toes to give him a kiss and some reassurance. “Don’t wait up, babe. I’m going to be really late.”
He didn't say a word, since all the breath was sucked from his body. The last thing he needed was his wife smack dab in the middle of this mess.
The killer inadvertently placed them right on his trail. Now, the woman who they were after at first, was chasing them.
His stomach twisted in a giant knot.
The shit was about to hit the fan.
Epilogue
A Few Days Later.
If anything, he had learned from the man who he admired. Greyson Croft always told him that an agent was only as good as his actions and his words. If he followed through, he’d build trust, and he’d also grow into the man he wanted to be by the end of his life.
His boss was absolutely right.
Before Sister Mary Catherine had been murdered, Special Agent Curtis Briggs had made a promise. He vowed that no matter what, he’d come back and work on the rec room come hell or high water.
The kids would have a place to stay, even if it took him months to do it alone.
Well, he was back.
Only, it wasn’t alone. He’d brought back up, and for three days, they all took off work over the New Year’s holiday to keep a promise one of them made. Even Emma and Brynn, who were neck deep in the murder of Commissioner Thomas Booker, took the time to help him keep his word.
It meant everything to him.
Yeah, it would have been far easier to hire someone to do all the work and walk away, but they all opted to buckle down and do it themselves. It was a learning experience, where they could come together as a team and also as a family.
Greyson Croft and Tessa Brass were the only two who had any working knowledge of power tools. They headed up the team by cutting wood to stud the walls and give out directions to the other four. They were patient, kind and willing to laugh at the silliest mistakes they made. It was all done in an effort to try and do something for people who had lost the woman who took care of them.
It wouldn’t bring Sister Mary Catherine back, but wherever she was, if she was watching them from above, she’d be happy. As they worked for days, screwing it up, redoing the work, and making it right, they had help from the people who were calling the shelter home.
In the process, Greyson Croft worked a little of his own magic. He called Randall Mason and asked him to help him find jobs for the men who needed work, and the women who needed a way out.
It was the least he could do, since it was his city, and now their home.
As they toiled, painted and worked the long hours, no one was tired. It became fun to give back and remember each of their beginnings in the process. Fate had brought them together, and love had bound them to each other, one way or another.
For a husband and wife, it made a stronger
marriage.
The twosome that remained friends were building a solid base for possibly more in the future.
And for the couple just beginning to sprout into something more, there were the little roots of happiness beginning to grab hold of their lives, as love blossomed.
Here was the proof that if you wished, hoped, and dreamed things could come true.
On the last day of working on their project, there was pride and joy at what they accomplished. While the men painted, the women went out and bought as many toys as they could, courtesy of a donation Emma had procured through Randall Mason.
In exchange for the money to the shelter, she’d come play the piano for him on Sundays, and even have dinner with him. It was going to be their new tradition, another family being born out of deceit and death.
When her husband had heard about the bargain, at first he wasn’t thrilled. She absolutely wouldn’t be going alone. Greyson wouldn’t ever let that happen, but as it grew on him, he saw the benefits. The deal was well worthwhile, as when the kids in the shelter found the room open with all brand new things, there would be joy. It would call forth the happiness that only a child with nothing could find, when they were given things outside their wildest dreams.
Good was coming from loss.
It was a testament to man’s ability to overcome.
As the kids played, the adults had coffee as they were given a gift from Greyson Croft and Randall Mason. They each received an envelope with a chance at a future. Inside was the prospect of a new job, startup money, and a way to begin again.
In death, there was life, and that was the lesson they’d all been given for the new year.
When they took the time to mourn the loss of the woman who took care of them, they’d remember that while she was gone and far from reach, there’d be someone to lift them from despair in their darkest hour.
It was time to heal.
And they’d found a way.
Over the door there hung a plaque. On it had been engraved words that no one would forget;
Christmas is Killing (A Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 3) Page 49
